11. Perhaps in some instances the personal failings of great achievers are unimportant
relative to the achievements. In many cases, however, the relative significance of
personal failings can be very great, depending on two factors: the extent to which the
failing is part of the achievement process itself, and the societal impact of the
achievers failing apart from his or her own success.
Personal failings and achievement are often symbiotically related. The former test
the would-be achievers mettle; they pose challenges―necessary resistance that drives
one to achieve despite the shortcoming. Personal failings may also compel one to focus
on ones strengths, thereby spawning achievement. For example, poor academic or job
performance may propel a gifted entrepreneur to start his or her own business. In the
arts, a personal failing may be a necessary ingredient or integral part of the process of
achieving. Artists and musicians often produce their most creative works during periods
of depression, addiction, or other distress. In business, insensitivity to the human
costs of success has bred grand achievements, as with the questionable labor practices
of the great philanthropist Andrew Carnegie.
A second type of personal failing is one that is unrelated to the achievement.
Modern politics is replete with examples: the marital indiscretions of the great leader
John F. Kennedy and the paranoia of the great statesman Richard Nixon, to name just
two. Were the personal failings of these two presidents less important than their
achievements? In the former example, probably so. in the latter example, probably not
since it resulted in the Watergate scandal―a watershed event in American politics. In
cases such as these, therefore, the societal impact of shortcoming and achievement must
be weighed on a case-by-case basis.
In sum, history informs us that personal failings are often part-and-parcel of great
achievements; even where they are not, personal shortcomings of great achievers often
make an important societal impact of their own.